UNION officials say they are ‘disappointed’ at the outsourcing of two park cafes which had to be subsidised by £100,000.

Bolton Council is seeking bidders to take over the running of its cafes in Queens Park and Moss Bank Park and has now confirmed that it will be removing jobs at both locations.

The equivalent of 7.66 full-time staff work at the pavilions, all of whom have been offered the options of voluntary redundancy, early retirement or redeployment to another council post.

GMB Bolton 23 Branch secretary Alan Flatley said: “We had a meeting between the staff, union, and management last week.

“Through the redundancy process, all staff have been given the option of either early retirement or redeployment.

“We are disappointed that the local authority feels that it cannot continue running the cafes.”

In June, it was confirmed that the council had to fork out £62,000 to support the cafe at Queens Park and £47,000 at Moss Bank Park last year.

The £500,000 Moss Bank Park cafe opened in 2014 after the previous eatery was destroyed in a fire.

The Queens Park facility opened in 2012 and was part of a lottery-funded regeneration of the entire park, which won Green Flag status earlier this week for the second year running.

A council spokesman said: “Following a review, we are now keen to offer the opportunity of running the cafes to new catering providers.

“The tenders have been prepared and we hope to attract thriving business opportunities into our parks - it would be ideal for a start-up business or an established eatery wishing to expand.

“The cafes will continue to operate until the new arrangements are in place. The hours they are open may vary and we will let the public know of any time changes as and when they occur.

“We are working with affected staff to give opportunities for redeployment in new roles within the council.”

A council report into the review of its cafe services said that ‘it has not proved possible to operate the buildings without significant subsidy’.